Social Question

Is being a tomboy related to the level of testosterone in blood?

I found an old Biology book of mine by coincidence when I was arranging my old books, and I remembered that my friend once asked me that strange question…
So the question was if a girl is tomboyish, does that mean that she has a high level of testosterone?
Edited: Just got the idea, is having like thick hair on her legs and a bit of a mustache and a beard also related to the level of testosterone being high or not?

I’ve been wondering lately if the difference in hormones between men and women isn’t naturally as dramatic as we think. Prior to the agricultural “revolution”, and in foraging societies since then, men and women were closer in size. It’s attributed largely to more similar diets and activity levels/types. With the imposition of monocrop agriculture, which goes along with patriarchy and more defined gender roles, we see the drop in height and loss in bone mass in populations is more pronounced in women. Different types of activities can cause the body to produce more testosterone, and many of them are the ones women are culturally encouraged not to do.

I preferred wrestling, and climbing trees to playing with dolls. I think it probably had more to do with being hyper-active than hormones. I also always preferred the company of boys and men to girls and women. That may be due to hormones.

Keep in mind, though, if you’re talking about children, their circulating levels of all sex hormones are quite low. The differences I described above likely do not emerge until puberty (all of the linked studies were on adults).

That does not rule out the possibility that testosterone and other sex hormones in utero contributed to differences in brain development, which can contribute to differences in behavior.

Isn’t testosterone associated with risk taking? I know there is still some discussion about whether testosterone induces risk taking or vice versa, but if testosterone in fact precipitates risky behavior, couldn’t that explain at least some of the preference for higher risk, boyish activities? And the mode of attire for ramp jumping is different than that required for haunting the mall, for practical reasons.

@6rant6 testosterone is one of several different things that can affect risk-taking. It can also be a feature of the manic phase of bipolar disorder too, and may also be related to adrenaline addiction. So just because someone takes risks doesn’t necessarily mean they have high testosterone.